The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason, was an intellectual and philosophical movement that occurred in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, with global influences and effects. (1685-1815)
The Enlightenment helped combat the excesses of the church, establish science as a source of knowledge, and defend human rights against tyranny. It also gave us modern schooling, medicine, republics, representative democracy.
Central to Enlightenment thought were the use and celebration of reason, the power by which humans understand the universe and improve their own condition. The goals of rational humanity were considered to be knowledge, freedom and happiness.
Ended with Napoleonic Wars in 1815.
3 major ideas, Reason, individualism, and skepticism
(Ex. Voltaire, Montesquieu, John Locke, Isaac Newton, Denis Diderot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Condorcet)
A range of ideas centered on the value of human happiness, the pursuit of knowledge obtained by means of reason and the evidence of the sense and ideas such as natural law, liberty, progress, toleration, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state.
The initial cause was the discovery of America
It stressed reason, logic, criticism, and freedom of thought over dogma, blind faith, and superstition
To understand the natural world and humankind’s place in it solely on the basis of reason
Marked by an emphasis on the scientific method and reduction along with increased questioning of religious orthodoxy
Negative effects of the Enlightenment are
Destroyer of morality, the harbinger of selfish individualism, as a thief robbing human life of meaning, as being a form of cultural imperialism
Four American Enlightenment Thinkers are Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and John Adams
Enlightenment thinker were afraid of democracy because what would happen if a mob of uneducated people had the power to vote.
What is the Enlightenment religious, Buddhist and Hinduism
John Locke key thinker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Locke
Major events, the discovery of Planets made by Galileo in 1610, the publishing of Newton’s Natural Philosophy in 1687, the Declaration of Independence in 1776
Enlightenment thinkers wanted to improve human conditions on earth rather than concern themselves with religion and the afterlife. These thinkers valued reason, science, religious tolerance and what they called natural rights, (life, liberty and property)
What is the difference between the Renaissance and the Enlightenment?
The Renaissance was marked by a renewed interest in learning more about the ancient cultures of Greece and the Roman Empire.
The Enlightenment was a period following the Renaissance which led to heavy inflow of ideas that sought to better the condition of mankind
What ended the enlightenment was the French Revolution (1789-1799)(10.5 years)
Two main ideas were, reason over superstitions and science over blind faith
Religious tolerance and the idea that individuals should be free from coercion in their personal lives and consciences
Why did the Enlightenment fail?
- The ideas of the enlightenment were not economically feasible at the time
- Many of those who supported the movement did so for their self-interest.
- The enlightenment ideals were not politically viable for the leaders at the time
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